Chuddy Crisis- sometime in 2003

[For those not familiar with the hindi language, your chuddies are your undies]
[The setting:- Akshay Kawale (AK) is sitting on his desk, the lamp is on, its light illuminating the Student Series of DBMS. Saurav Palit (SP) is on the bed, with a toothbrush in his lap. I too am perched on the bed, my antique mobile beside me. For reasons known only to him, SP moves off the bed and squats on the floor 'neath the dining table.]

SP- So are those your 'I'm getting lucky tonight' chuds?

AK- hahahahahahaha

Me- So do you go out to buy your own chuds or when your mom is out on a shopping spree, you tell her to get them for you?

AK- Ya I tell my mom.

Me- So do you ask your mom to pick a specific colour? 'cuz you went from like camouflage green to electric blue!

AK- No actually the plan was that my bro would have white chuds & my dad & me would have a different set of colours. But we never got around to it.

[At this point of time, the duo (SP & Me) start rolling in peals of laughter, him on the floor and me on the bed]
[... some unimportant, unrelated conversation follows. Then...]

Me- So what will happen if one day your bro decides that he has had enough white in 20 years of his life, and he now wants to go technicolour?

AK- Then I guess we will sort by size... [after a brief (pun intented) moments pause]... How does your mom separate the chuds from the washing machine? How are they despatched in your house?

[Needless to say, the duo at this point are pealing again, on the floor and on the bed]

blurred vision

I lost my spectacles today. Someone knocked them off my face while I was getting on the train. Is it my fault? I don't know. I am angry with myself.

Questions...

Why is it that we don't give security measures prime importance in our country? Why is it that we take reactive measures, instead of proactive ones? It is only now, after the blasts in the Mumbai trains that the government has decided to install CCTV cameras in some of the major railway stations. Shouldn't this step have been taken years back, especially after the metro blasts in London and Madrid? Why is it that the security in our airports is worse than that given to some politicians (goons?) in the country? The Mumbai airport does not even have a boundry wall, for crying out loud. The slums merge seamlessly with the runway and the grounds surrounding it. Convenient. Have you ever noticed that passengers (especially foreigners) who have just exited from the departure gate can walk right back in the terminal, with their luggage, without anyone questioning them? Can they not bring back something in the premises this way? Can they not switch their bags and get in, jut so easily?

The intelligence tells us that terrorists are now being trained in Bangladesh, and it is from there that they are able to enter the country. Must we not ensure that the Indo-Bangladesh border is unbreachable? Or are we leaving that job to the tigers in the Sunderbans? Bangladeshi immigrants have been entering India since partition. Most of them work as domestic help. There are even legal settlements for them, atleast in Mumbai. Does it not occur to the powers that be to keep a record of who's there? How tough would it be for a terrorist to lie low in one of these settlements, until called upon to do his dastardly act?

Why is it that the different departments of the state find it so difficult to interact with each other? Why is it that there is no one to be held accountable for anything in this city? Why can we not have a single person in charge of co-ordinating the various departments of the state. We all know what Mayor Rudy Giuliani did for New York after 9/11. Must we not try and emulate their model? What is the point of forming committee after committee, year after year, and yet achive NOTHING. 13 years after the Mumbai blasts, we have yet not been able to convict the accused. What does that say about our judicial system? Our itelligence could barely manage to extradict Abu Salem back to India, after numerous gaffes. What does that say about our intelligence?

Why do we (me included) not treat our soldiers as heroes? When a U.S. Marine dies in Iraq, he is given a state funeral and the entire country mourns. Our soldiers are dying every day in Kashmir. Must we not honour them? Must we not honour the people who die everyday in terrorist related activities. Must we not give them the money they are promised each and every time?

Too many questions, too few answers... think about it....

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I'm tired of the bombs
I'm tired of the bullets
I'm tired of the crazies on TV
I'm the aviator
A dream's a dream whatever it seems

I'm tired of the news
I'm tired of the weather
I'm tired of the same thing every day
I'm the aviator
A dream's a dream whatever they say

The Photo Page

The Photo Page is finally up. It took me forever to figure out how to do it, but here it is nonetheless. Am starting off by clearing the backlog of the Goa snaps! Sun, sand and...



















... a drunk pig maybe :o)